Re:What's Wrong with Public Intellectuals?
by arca_vorago on Monday February 16, 2015 @04:29PM
(#9059160)
"If there is a task, it might be to participate in making "the public" more brilliant, more skeptical, more disobedient, more capable of self-defense, and more dangerous again—dangerous to elites, and dangerous to stability..."
Honestly I think this is the problem. There has been a steady wave of anti-intellectualism throughout certain parts of the country, and in particular the education system itself. This result in a level of distrust in "intellectuals" that creates cultural filter-bubbles and it's very hard to bust other peoples bubbles without putting them on the defensive.
The bottom line is that TPTB don't desire an intellectual public. They are harder to control, are less likely to conform or be silent, etc. I've heard it put like this: "They want someone just smart enough to push papers but not enough to ask too many questions."
Add on top of that the major chilling effects of an increasingly global surveillance state that is edging towards totalitarian facism, and it's easy to understand how many of the intellectuals simply just go about their lives and try not to rock the boat. A good example of this is the state of the fourth estate, where currently just about every reporter who actually goes to the DC press club is more like a stenographer than a reporter. "Officials sources say..." is their calling card (keep an eye out for this phrase). If they rock the boat too much, they get dis-invited from the party in one way or another.
Honestly I think the state of public intellectualism is much more tied into class warfare than anyone has articulated yet.
This is also why I think that art is the new medium for intellectuals. In a surveillance state, subtle and subversive artistic endeavors seem to be the most likely to positively influence without creating defensiveness, while at the same time flying under the normal dissident surveillance radar.
Do not be fooled, with current legislation such a TPP and Net Neutrality, this is only the beginning of censorship and the chilling effect. Only the beginning. They ignored the internet and let us win the 90's crypto wars, but now they recognize the internet as a threat and "it must be brought under control." It's all about control. (as opposed to safety)
Honestly I think this is the problem. There has been a steady wave of anti-intellectualism throughout certain parts of the country, and in particular the education system itself. This result in a level of distrust in "intellectuals" that creates cultural filter-bubbles and it's very hard to bust other peoples bubbles without putting them on the defensive.
The bottom line is that TPTB don't desire an intellectual public. They are harder to control, are less likely to conform or be silent, etc. I've heard it put like this: "They want someone just smart enough to push papers but not enough to ask too many questions."
Add on top of that the major chilling effects of an increasingly global surveillance state that is edging towards totalitarian facism, and it's easy to understand how many of the intellectuals simply just go about their lives and try not to rock the boat. A good example of this is the state of the fourth estate, where currently just about every reporter who actually goes to the DC press club is more like a stenographer than a reporter. "Officials sources say..." is their calling card (keep an eye out for this phrase). If they rock the boat too much, they get dis-invited from the party in one way or another.
Honestly I think the state of public intellectualism is much more tied into class warfare than anyone has articulated yet.
This is also why I think that art is the new medium for intellectuals. In a surveillance state, subtle and subversive artistic endeavors seem to be the most likely to positively influence without creating defensiveness, while at the same time flying under the normal dissident surveillance radar.
Do not be fooled, with current legislation such a TPP and Net Neutrality, this is only the beginning of censorship and the chilling effect. Only the beginning. They ignored the internet and let us win the 90's crypto wars, but now they recognize the internet as a threat and "it must be brought under control." It's all about control. (as opposed to safety)